Background: Therapeutic options for patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia are limited. In such cases, a combination of atypical antipsychotic drugs is an often used strategy. We tested the hypothesis that the combination of amisulpride and clozapine would lead to long-term improvement in this patient group. Objective: 15 patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia participated in ...

OBJECTIVE Activation of semantic networks is indexed by the N400 effect. We used a twin study design to investigate whether N400 effect abnormalities reflect genetic/trait liability or are related to psychopathological processes in schizophrenia. METHODS We employed robust linear regression to compare N400 and behavioral priming effects across 36 monozygotic twin pairs (6 pairs concordant for...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to find out the extent of hostility and violence and the factors that are associated with such hostility and violence in a psychiatric intensive care unit. METHODS Retrospective analysis of data prospectively collected in a 6-year period. RESULTS No hostility was observed in 56.1%, hostility in 40.9%, and violence in 3.0% of the admitted cases. Sec...

OBJECTIVE Switching antipsychotics is one useful therapeutic option when the treatment of schizophrenia encounters suboptimal efficacy and intolerability issues. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of cross-tapering switching to ziprasidone from other antipsychotics. METHODS A total of 67 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were recruited in this ...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to compare olanzapine and haloperidol efficacies in the treatment of acute psychiatric symptoms due to amphetamine-type stimulants (ATSs). METHODS The Zelen II design method was used; 124 patients with acute mental disorders due to amphetamine were randomly divided into olanzapine group (n = 63) and haloperidol group (n = 61). Then, a 4-week open-label medical ther...

AIM The psychometric properties of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were tested in a sample of 134 patients with a substance use disorder and a non-substance related psychiatric disorder in a special inpatient dual diagnosis treatment unit. METHODS Subjects were assessed at baseline. At discharge on average 6 months ...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this investigation was to identify distinctive clinical correlates of psychotic major depression (PMD) as compared with non-psychotic major depression (NPMD) in a large cohort of Korean patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS We recruited 966 MDD patients of age over 18 years from the Clinical Research Center for Depression of South Korea (CRESCEND) stu...

BACKGROUND Gender issues are extensively explored in schizophrenia. A mounting body of research evidence suggests that there are gender differences in the age at onset, duration of untreated psychosis and presented psychopathology. In recent years, in order to obtain neurophysiologic explanation for the disturbed behavior and thinking in schizophrenia, numerous studies have been performed focus...

To study the effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) in the management of cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia, we investigated the effects of 12 weeks of adjunctive therapy with donepezil on their cognitive impairments. Twenty-four subjects stabilized on haloperidol treatment (5-30 mg/day) for a minimum of 3 months were entered into a double-blind, placebo-controlle...